


Peace and Love

by giles_forever8495



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-11
Updated: 2016-08-11
Packaged: 2018-08-08 04:30:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,458
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7743454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giles_forever8495/pseuds/giles_forever8495
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Buffy's destiny helps Giles realize his true feelings. Now the only question is: does she love him, too?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peace and Love

**Author's Note:**

> In this AU, Buffy kills Angel during s1e7 Angel (this is the major character death). Because of this, the entire premise of the show changes, so I may or may not be creating a completely different universe - one where my favorite characters can finally get their happy ending, but not without trials of course.
> 
> Also, I do realize this isn't exactly how things happened.

“Giles, I’m sixteen years old…I don’t wanna die.”

* * *

 

“Buffy’s not going to face the Master. I am.”

“No you’re not,” Buffy said confidently as she marched into the library.

“I’m not going to send you out there to die.”

Buffy looked at him standing there, hands on his hips in defiance. He wasn’t going to let her go. He wasn’t going to let her face her destiny. She could see it in his eyes. The same look that Angel used to give her. But she wasn’t going to let him die either. So she punched him in the face, grabbed a stake, and went off to die – but not without a fight.

Giles came-to laying on the floor of the library. When he opened his eyes, he saw Jenny looking down on him. “What happened?” He looked around the library. The last thing he remembered was Buffy. “Where is she? Where’s Buffy!” He scrambled to his feet, the blood rushing too quickly to his head. He stumbled back against the wall, tears filling his eyes.

“She left, Rupert. There’s nothing you can do.”

“You let her go! How could you? She’ll die!”

“Honestly, I didn’t want us both to be unconscious when the world ended.” She moved closer to him, trying to comfort him, trying to comfort herself. But he jerked away from her touch.

“I can’t lose her!” He didn’t shout; it was more of a cry. A plea to the Powers That Be to somehow bring her back to him. He fell on his knees, letting the tears flow freely now. He could feel it in his chest: she was gone. That’s when the earth started shaking and the floor opened up. And a beast rose from the ground.

They all fought valiantly, and to the best of their abilities, which in all honesty wasn’t very much. And then he watched, as Watchers do, as the Master fell through the ceiling, raining shattered glass all over them. He was gone. The Master was dead. The apocalypse averted. The monster slithered back into its hole and the vampires ran away.

But he still felt empty, as if the world, at least his world, had already ended.

He looked up from the bones of the Master to see her standing there. She looked more beautiful than he had ever seen. She was wearing a white dress and her hair was damp. He wondered why, and then he saw the tears falling on her cheeks. “Buffy?”

“I’m sorry. It’s just been a really weird day.”

“Yeah, Buffy died and everything,” Xander and his usual charm.

“Wow, harsh,” Willow adding her natural innocence as always.

“I should have known that wouldn’t stop you.” He wanted to reach out and pull her into an embrace and kiss her senseless. Having second thoughts after he reached out his hand, he rubbed the back of his neck instead giving her his usual sheepish smile. Despite their friends in the room, when they looked at each other the rest of the world fell away.

“Shall I take you home?”

“Would you, please?”

They followed everyone out and went their separate ways. Giles and Buffy walked together in silence as they made their way over to his car. He opened the door for her and then went around to his side and got in. When he got in the car he couldn’t quite force himself to turn it on yet. He just looked her. And she looked at him.

She reached out and placed a hand on his jaw where she struck him earlier. It had already turned purple. “I’m sorry.”

He smiled and leaned into her touch, just a bit. “It’s all right. I’d have done the same thing if I were you.”

“Do you know why I did it?”

He shook his head and she pulled her hand away. He turned his gaze away from her and into the night, “I assume it was because I was being foolish and arrogant.”

“Well, yeah,” she teased. “But mostly it was because I knew you’d do it. I knew you’d die for me, Giles. But I couldn’t live with myself if I ever let that happen. You mean too much to me.”

He looked back at her when she spoke those last words. A lump formed in the center of his throat as he began speaking again, “I couldn’t live with myself if you hadn’t walked back into the library, Buffy. I-I care too much for you.”

“You do?” She asked in complete amazement. In the past year it seemed like she did nothing but annoy and disappoint him. But what she saw now, she didn’t have words for.

Giles turned in his seat to face her, “Of course I do, Buffy. I…Well, I…y-you’re my Slayer.” He wanted to tell her that he loved her.

“Yeah,” she said with a twinge of disappointment. “Is that all I am to you, Giles?” She wasn’t mad. There was no anger in her voice. It was fear that he heard, fear and something along the lines of shyness, coming from his Slayer.

He cocked his head a bit to the side, “What do you mean?”

“I mean…do you only care because I’m the Slayer?”

Now was the time for honesty. Buffy had just died and saved the world, yet again. He owed her that much. The question was, whether or not he could muster up the courage to speak the words out loud. Especially since he only figured them to be true when he first read the prophecy.

Giles looked at Buffy and watched as the tears began pooling again in her eyes. He reached out and gently took one of her hands. “Buffy,” he began very slowly. “I realize that to you I am nothing more than an old man.” He shushed her response with a wave of his left hand. “However, I have seen you mature tremendously over these last months. And tonight you faced death and overcame it.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly trying to calm his nerves. “You are so much more to me than just the Slayer. You hold a part of my heart that will always belong to you. You are beautiful and brave, and slayer strength aside, you are the strongest woman I have ever known. You successfully lead a double life in order to protect this sorry world, and because of that – because of your selflessness and generosity and friendship – I have fallen so in love with you that it is quite overwhelming.” At his last words he couldn’t hold his gaze any longer and breathed a shaky breath as he looked down at their hands. Gently he rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb fully expecting her to pull away from him and run home.

To his amazement, she did neither. Instead she gently squeezed his hand. He looked up as the tears she had been holding in fell down her cheeks. “I was really hoping you’d say something like that.” Slowly she leaned across the front seat of his Citroen and gently brushed her lips against his. She wrapped her arms around his neck and looked directly into his eyes. “Because since you saved my life from Amy’s mom, I kinda fell in love with you, too.”

A boyish, giddy grin spread across his face and he wrapped his arms around her back pulling her in for another kiss. This one was deep and lasted for long moments before they were both forced to pull away for air.

“Giles,” she breathed into his ear. “Let me stay with you tonight?”

“Oh God, Buffy!” He hugged her so tight that, were she not the Slayer, she wouldn’t have been able to breathe. “Tonight and every night after, if you’ll have me.”

When they finally pulled away and Giles started the car, he took her hand in his and interlocked their fingers while he drove them to his apartment. He opened the car door for her and hoisted her into his arms to carry her into his home.

There would be many more battles to fight, both of the supernatural world and the real world. Tomorrow they would have to face their friends, and possibly even Buffy’s mother, but they still had tonight. And tonight Giles praised his love with kisses and caresses until finally he made love to her for the first time, her first time. They expressed their love to one another in words and in actions. When they finally fell asleep in each other’s arms, the sun was not far from rising.

There would be many more battles to fight. But for now there was peace and love.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Like I said before, I might write a sequel to this fic since I kind of created a new universe. If you liked this one, and want to see more, please let me know and I totally will write it.


End file.
